RoboCache the "first decentralized video game distribution and resale platform using the block-chain" shut down in 30 days. Purchases will be lost even if downloaded previously.
Yeah, the irony is that I'm sure you could do some sort of blockchain-based DRM that didn't need a centralized server. Does such a thing exist? Patent pending...
The problem is that game sellers would need to be able to add games to the blockchain so that they can be traded. But how do you implement a trusted entity in a trustless decentralized system?
It looks like you don't need to add a game to the chain, just build a chain of trust and check the signature of something like that. But maybe that has downsides and with an unpopular blockchain it may as well be centralised
I was thinking more of NFTs, where a single ID corresponds to a specific copy of a game - allowing you to freely trade the game to someone elses wallet.
I was thinking of something like LBRY for the backend and like x402 for payment using stablecoins. This could all be neatly managed and allow to skip expensive transferal costs where a piece of content could even cost like less than a penny
Am I misundersnding somethings here? It's the ownership/license that is decentralized. So a user could do whatever they wanted with that license (keep it, resell it, give it away). But at the end of the day there always needs to be a way to use that license to download the game files. That's the bit that is shutting down.
This distinction likely doesn't matter to the people losing access to the game, but most of the comments here seem to fundamentally misunderstand the setup here.
Tbf this is the first time I’ve heard of it so have no deeper knowledge than what’s presented here, but it does state a platform shutdown so I assumed the whole lot is being disabled.
Ya for sure in this case the platform that hosts the downloads is going down, but that was never the promise of distributed platforms like this. It's more like owning a CD that still requires an internet connection to download the updates.
You're free to give that CD to anyone you want, but if the publisher shuts down the server you're shit out of luck.
In theory someone else could come along, leverage that some blockchain and let people get access to their games again (this isn't actually going to happen)
Now I know I'm making a lot of assumptions on how this platform actually implemented blockchain and such, but that is how the technology under the hood works. The part that I assume breaks this is that i bet that the company actually maintained private keys on behalf of the users, and if users didn't actually have their private key then there was actually no benefit to the blockchain and it was just a marketing ploy.
Doesn't say great things about their marketing that the first time I (a chronically online gaming nerd) am hearing about this company is their notice of shutting down.
They advertised everywhere like at all the crypto conferences, all the mobile microtransactions conferences, and all the conferences for business execs who demand movies/TV based on video games to focus on "the non-gamer".
This is the kind of shit that makes Stop Killing Games' mission so important. If a random company can just revoke your access to games you purchased and downloaded in a situation like this, then any game storefront can do it too.
1000% if they tried even slightly they could have passed the server to the community to support legacy gamers, but are choosing to just shut it down instead because crypto bros are always psychopaths
How could their costs be high enough that they can't survive more than ONE month after launch? But we all dodged the bullet I guess, can you imagine this happening a year in when people actually had a chance to buy multiple games from them? What a pitiful response. It'll be harder for anybody to enter the market when things like this happen.
I mystified what it was that I read in that post that made me think that they only lasted a month to begin with, before announcing they were shutting down in a month. And even more confusing that I've literally never heard of them, that seemed reasonable when I thought they were a month old.
Some people are going to get screwed pretty hard here then, if they've been buying games there for years. Pretty horrific management of the situation if they can't work out a deal with steam to save people's games.
Yeah, thanks - that must have been it. I read their post with the inference I took from the title in my head and didn't re-examine it after reading their message. And they didn't say anything like "it's been a great 8 years" like a lot of similar posts might to dispel it.
RoboCache the "first decentralized video game distribution and resale platform using the block-chain" shut down in 30 days. Purchases will be lost even if downloaded previously. | Spyke
Sounds pretty centralised to me if it can just be turned off that easily.
That's pretty much all blockchain stuff tbh, it's all centralized to the extreme around 1 or a few major services.
Yeah, the irony is that I'm sure you could do some sort of blockchain-based DRM that didn't need a centralized server. Does such a thing exist? Patent pending...
The problem is that game sellers would need to be able to add games to the blockchain so that they can be traded. But how do you implement a trusted entity in a trustless decentralized system?
Maybe I’m thick but that seems like the answer is the same as it is for anyone selling something on a website without blockchain.
It looks like you don't need to add a game to the chain, just build a chain of trust and check the signature of something like that. But maybe that has downsides and with an unpopular blockchain it may as well be centralised
I was thinking more of NFTs, where a single ID corresponds to a specific copy of a game - allowing you to freely trade the game to someone elses wallet.
I was thinking of something like LBRY for the backend and like x402 for payment using stablecoins. This could all be neatly managed and allow to skip expensive transferal costs where a piece of content could even cost like less than a penny
Am I misundersnding somethings here? It's the ownership/license that is decentralized. So a user could do whatever they wanted with that license (keep it, resell it, give it away). But at the end of the day there always needs to be a way to use that license to download the game files. That's the bit that is shutting down.
This distinction likely doesn't matter to the people losing access to the game, but most of the comments here seem to fundamentally misunderstand the setup here.
Tbf this is the first time I’ve heard of it so have no deeper knowledge than what’s presented here, but it does state a platform shutdown so I assumed the whole lot is being disabled.
Ya for sure in this case the platform that hosts the downloads is going down, but that was never the promise of distributed platforms like this. It's more like owning a CD that still requires an internet connection to download the updates.
You're free to give that CD to anyone you want, but if the publisher shuts down the server you're shit out of luck.
In theory someone else could come along, leverage that some blockchain and let people get access to their games again (this isn't actually going to happen)
Now I know I'm making a lot of assumptions on how this platform actually implemented blockchain and such, but that is how the technology under the hood works. The part that I assume breaks this is that i bet that the company actually maintained private keys on behalf of the users, and if users didn't actually have their private key then there was actually no benefit to the blockchain and it was just a marketing ploy.
We made it so decentralized that you can't play games that are already on your computer without phoning home for authorization!
So many crypto bros think 99% decentralized is good enough.
51% *
"Yay Blockchain! But we control all of it, can shut it down whenever we want and you get to keep nothing. Yay!"
Doesn't say great things about their marketing that the first time I (a chronically online gaming nerd) am hearing about this company is their notice of shutting down.
What do you mean? That's pretty much the golden standard of new multibillion dollar projects
They advertised everywhere like at all the crypto conferences, all the mobile microtransactions conferences, and all the conferences for business execs who demand movies/TV based on video games to focus on "the non-gamer".
Makes sense, no need to let gamers know about your novelty gaming store
This is why DRM is a scourge.
TL;DR:
Welp, we've made all the money out of you suckers that we can. Fuck y'all.
This is the kind of shit that makes Stop Killing Games' mission so important. If a random company can just revoke your access to games you purchased and downloaded in a situation like this, then any game storefront can do it too.
1000% if they tried even slightly they could have passed the server to the community to support legacy gamers, but are choosing to just shut it down instead because crypto bros are always psychopaths
How could their costs be high enough that they can't survive more than ONE month after launch? But we all dodged the bullet I guess, can you imagine this happening a year in when people actually had a chance to buy multiple games from them? What a pitiful response. It'll be harder for anybody to enter the market when things like this happen.
Robot cache was founded 8 years ago.
This post only says that it will be shut down in 30 days.
I mystified what it was that I read in that post that made me think that they only lasted a month to begin with, before announcing they were shutting down in a month. And even more confusing that I've literally never heard of them, that seemed reasonable when I thought they were a month old.
Some people are going to get screwed pretty hard here then, if they've been buying games there for years. Pretty horrific management of the situation if they can't work out a deal with steam to save people's games.
I understood the same - the post title implies that it has only existed 1 month. Should say "shuts down in 30 days".
Yeah, thanks - that must have been it. I read their post with the inference I took from the title in my head and didn't re-examine it after reading their message. And they didn't say anything like "it's been a great 8 years" like a lot of similar posts might to dispel it.
I also read the title that way, the only thing that made me reread it was that the post itself said sth about the " past few years".
Sure it was founded 8 years ago but when did they begin actual operations, not book operations?
It apparently went into open beta in 2020.
five years of real operations isn't bad for an outfit like this
Ha ha ha ha
Oh no who could have predicted this.
lol, is P2P not good enough?
Good
It reminds me of https://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com/ where companies say "fuck you and thanks for the money."